Domina gaudium magnum sentit, sed dominus etiam iram parvam sentit.

The lady feels great joy, but the master also feels a little anger.

Breakdown of Domina gaudium magnum sentit, sed dominus etiam iram parvam sentit.

• sed: but
• etiam: also
• magnus: great
• parvus: little
• sentire: to feel
• dominus: the master
• domina: the lady of the house
• gaudium: the joy
• ira: the anger

Questions & Answers about Domina gaudium magnum sentit, sed dominus etiam iram parvam sentit.

What do domina and dominus mean, and why are their endings different?

Both domina and dominus mean something like “master / mistress, lord / lady” or “female / male head of the household.”

• domina is feminine (a woman),
• dominus is masculine (a man).

The different endings show gender and also tell you that both are nominative singular (they are the subjects of the verb sentit):

• -a is a common feminine nominative singular ending (1st declension),
• -us is a common masculine nominative singular ending (2nd declension).

Why is there no word for “the” (like the lady, the master) in Latin?

Classical Latin generally does not use articles like “the” or “a/an” at all.
So domina can mean “the lady,” “a lady,” or just “lady” depending on context.

English must choose an article, but Latin relies on context and word endings (cases) rather than articles to show how a noun is used in the sentence.

What does sentit mean exactly, and what form is it?

sentit comes from the verb sentire, “to feel, perceive, sense.”

Formally, sentit is:

• 3rd person (“he/she/it”),
• singular,
• present tense,
• active,
• indicative mood,
• 4th conjugation.

So domina sentit = “the lady feels”, dominus sentit = “the master feels.”

Why are gaudium and iram in the form they are? What case are they?

gaudium (“joy”) and iram (“anger”) are in the accusative singular.

They are direct objects of sentit—they are what is being felt:

• domina sentit gaudium magnum = “the lady feels great joy,”
• dominus sentit iram parvam = “the master feels small anger.”

So the pattern is:
[subject in nominative] + sentit + [object in accusative].

Why does gaudium end in -um but iram ends in -am?

They belong to different declensions and different genders:

• gaudium is neuter, 2nd declension: nominative gaudium, accusative gaudium (same form).
• ira is feminine, 1st declension: nominative ira, accusative iram.

So -um and -am are both accusative singular endings, just from different declension patterns.

Why do we have gaudium magnum but iram parvam? How do magnum and parvam work?

magnum (“great, big”) and parvam (“small, little”) are adjectives describing the nouns gaudium and iram.

In Latin, adjectives must agree with their noun in:

• gender,
• number,
• case.

So:

• gaudium = neuter, singular, accusative → magnum is also neuter, singular, accusative.
• iram = feminine, singular, accusative → parvam is also feminine, singular, accusative.

This is why the endings are magnum and parvam, not something else.

Can the adjective come before the noun, like magnum gaudium instead of gaudium magnum?

Yes. Latin word order is quite flexible.

You can say:

• gaudium magnum or magnum gaudium,
• iram parvam or parvam iram.

The basic meaning doesn’t change. Sometimes word order can slightly change emphasis or style, but at your level it’s fine to treat these orders as equivalent.

What does sed mean exactly, and how is it used here?

sed means “but” and introduces a contrast.

The sentence sets up:

• first: domina gaudium magnum sentit – the lady feels great joy,
• then: sed – introduces contrast,
• dominus etiam iram parvam sentit – but the master also feels small anger.

So sed contrasts what the domina feels with what the dominus feels.

What does etiam mean here, and where does it usually go in the sentence?

etiam here means “also” or “too.”

In the sentence dominus etiam iram parvam sentit, it emphasizes that the dominus also feels something (anger), in addition to what was just said about the domina.

etiam often comes before the word it emphasizes, and very commonly appears early in the clause, as here before iram parvam sentit; placing it before dominus or before iram can slightly shift the focus (the master also… vs also anger), but the core meaning is “also.”

How flexible is the word order in this sentence? Could we rearrange it?

Latin word order is quite flexible, because endings show each word’s role.

You could say, for example:

• Domina magnum gaudium sentit, sed etiam dominus parvam iram sentit.
• Magnum gaudium domina sentit, sed dominus parvam etiam iram sentit.

All of these would still mean roughly the same thing. The standard basic order for learners is often Subject – Object – Verb, but Latin doesn’t rely on order the way English does.

How do you pronounce the Latin words in this sentence?

Using reconstructed Classical pronunciation (simplified guide):

• domina: DOH-mi-na (short o as in “off,” short i as in “sit”)
• gaudium: GOW-dee-oom (GOW as in “cow,” di like “dee,” um like “oom”)
• magnum: MAHG-num (gn pronounced as in “magnum,” not “ny”)
• sentit: SEN-tit (both vowels short; e as in “get,” i as in “sit”)
• sed: sed (like English “said,” but with clear e)
• dominus: DOH-mi-nus
• etiam: EH-tee-am (or more exactly EH-tee-um)
• iram: EE-ram (long i like “machine”)
• parvam: PAR-wam (v like English v)

Stress rule: usually stress the second-to-last syllable if it is long; otherwise, the third-to-last.